Analysis: Steaminess Rating

Exactly how steamy is this story?

PG

There’s no explicit sex in The Comedy of Errors to speak of, though the play tends towards the bawdy and lewd with respect to women. The PG rating would be more for vulgarity. However, we do get some naughty implications. S. Dromio gives a full run down of a woman’s anatomy when he describes Nell, the kitchen wench who claims him as her man. This isn’t the usual hot kitchen-wench stuff, though; it’s more crass because he discusses her unattractive features in great detail. The Courtesan is our greatest sexual suggestion, and while E. Antipholus may be having sex with her, she’s driven off in a desexualized alliance with Adriana pretty quickly. Like many of Shakespeare’s comedies, rather than being a central feature, the promise of sex to come is just another one of the play’s light promises of happiness.